Incinerator.



o. M. SHANNON.

INOINBBATOB.

APPLICATION FILED mma. 191s.

Patented May 12, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

2f DUDDmEDmDEJ/ Witneoaeo:

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

0. M. SHANNON.

INGINERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAILB, 1913.

Patented May 12 UNTED STATES UFFCE.

OSCAR M. SHANNON, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIG-NOR TO NATIONAL INCINERATOR COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

INCINERATOR.

To atl whom it may concern Be it known that I, OseAR M. SHANNON, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Manhattan and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Incinerators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention is an improvement in crematories or incinerators for refuse material and is designed for use in large establishments such as hotels, apartment houses, factories, etc.

The object of the invention is to provide an incinerating furnace of large capacity which will not occupy an unreasonable amount of space in the `building in which it :is installed nor require in its operation the appropriation of any considerable space for the handling or storage of material before it is destroyed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of crematory which, notwithstanding the fact that garbage or other refuse material may be stored within the structure of the furnace itself, does not require that the fire should be continuously maintained, but, on the contrary, may be started at any time of the day desired, and when so started, will consume or destroy the refuse matter already stored in the furnace with the same eiciency as if the fire were continuously maintained and the refuse material dumped into the furnace from time to time as it is accumulated. In Crematories of these large capacities as heretofore constructed and operated, the furnace has been of such size as to Substantially occupy the space between the floor and ceiling, and since such furnaces have usually been fed from above, it has been necessary to utilize a part of the floor above the furnace as a place for collecting the refuse matter and dumping it through hoppers into the furnace below. Such furnaces have of necessity been continuously under heat, since any cessation thereof would require the storage of the refuse matter outside of the furnace, as otherwise the fires could not be started with the furnace full of green and moist material without creating the nuisance of unconsumed smoke and vapors in the atmosphere. To store the collected refuse matter outside of the furnace is objectionable since the odors therefrom would penetrate through Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 8, 1913.

Patented May 12, 1914.

Serial N o. 752,850.

the building and become obnoxious. The consequence of this has been that the cost o f operating these furnaces is disproportionately large, since it not only entails the consumption of more fuel than necessary but requires the continuous attendance of one or more operatives. By means of my invention the refuse matter may be deposited as it is collected from time to time in the furnace itself, where gases arising from it will be carried by the natural draft up the flue, and, at stated times, say once in Qi hours, the fire may be started and the collected material cremated. l/Vhen this is finished the lire is allowed to die out and the presence of the operative is not again required until the storage capacity of the furnace is again filled.

Accordingly my incinerator consists essentially of two main parts, a cremating chamber and a refuse storage chamber so constructed and arranged that the refuse in storage does not interfere with the preliminary heating of the cremating chamber,

and so that the refuse material can be fed` to the cremating chamber at a rate that will insure its rapid and complete destruction. In addition to this the structure also contains suitable arrangements of passages and chambers for rapidly heating and maintaining the heat of the cremating chamber and for consuming the smoke and gases given ofi' by the heated mass of refuse material before it reaches the chimney.

In the accompanying drawings in which my improved crematory is illustrated; Figure l is a plan thereof; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line :v -.r of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section.

The outer' casing of the structure indicated by 1 may be of general rectangular and elongated shape and constructed of ordinary brick or other suitable building material. W'ithin this casing is located a structure 2 composed of fire brick. This internal structure is formed with an ordinary combustion chamber 3 at one end, which may be regarded as the front, this chamber having at the bottom an ordinary fire-grate Zl, under which is an ash-space 5, extending rearward the full length of the furnace. Fuel is fed into the chamber 3 through an ordinary lire-door 6. The rear wall 3 of the combustion chamber is provided with two openings 7 and S, respectively, leading rearwardly above and below a horizontal grate 9. This grate is constructed of fire-brick and extends nearly to the rear end of the structure, a space 10 being left between its rear end and the rear wall of the structure through which the products of combustion from below the grate 9 may pass up to oin those above the grate. The grate 9 is arched or convex on its upper side so that its highest point extends lengthwise through the middle of the furnace. Above the grate 9 is the cremating chamber 11 having a roof 12 of lire brick also preferably arched and from which depends a baffle-arch 18 at a point innnediately'to the rear of the draft passage 7 from the combustion chamber.

This baffie-arch deflects the heat and prodv ucts of combustion entering through the passage 7, downward toward the grate 9. At the rear of the chamber 11 is another depending arch 14. under which products of combustion from the cremating chamber pass to those which rise through the passage 10, both together then leading through the passage 15 to a horizontal passage or chamber 1G in the upper part of the furnace. This passage 1G leads forward horizontally above the roof 12 of the cremating chamber to the front of the furnace where it turns laterally at 17 and joins a similar chamber 1S extending to the rear of the structure where the final outlet is provided to the chimney through the pipe 19. rliliese Atwo passages 16 and 18 are virtually formed by a central vertical partition 20 connecting with thc rear wall and stopp-ing short of the front wall of the structure to form the connecting iue 17. The two chambers 16 and 1S are provided with internallyprojecting bricks 21 to furnish extended hot surfaces with which the unconsumed gases and vapors emitted from the cremating chamber below may come in contact to be finally destroyed, for which purpose it is obvious that even loose brick disposed in any miscellaneous or symmetrical manner through or along these chambers may be used with the same effect as those shown in the drawing. rl`he throat 10 is controlled by a damper 21 by which the heat and products of combustion below grate 9 may be directed through the spaces in said grate and into the chamber 11 before they enter the passage 15.

Arranged along one of the side walls of this structure and opposite that portion inclosing the cremating chamber is a plurality of refuse receptacles or storage tanks each being in the form of a hopper 22 of. large capacity and built into the wall of the structure. As shown these hoppers are of metal but it is obvious that they may be constructed wholly or in part of the same material of which the wall is built. The outer end or mouth of each hopper is pro- Amanner hereinafter described.

low the outlet 24 and below the upper surface of grate 9 so as to form a basin for the collection of liquid that may trickle down from the material dumped into the hopper, and each basin is provided with an escape pipe Q5 for conducting such liquid to the sewer and so preventing it from entering chamber 11. in the illustra-tion, live of these hoppers are shown and each of them may have a capacity of from one to, say, five or siX barrels, but my invention is not in any manner limited either to the number of the hoppers or to their individual capacities,-the same being left to the best jue gment of the constructing engineer. @n the side wall of the furnace opposite that in which the hoppers are located, is a series of stoke-holes 26 arranged preferably directly opposite each of the openings 2Liof the hoppers, there being one stoke-hole provided for each hopper or,y if preferred, the number of Stoke-holes `may be either fewer or greater than the number of hoppers provided the manipulation of the material contained in the hoppers through the stokeholes can be eventually carried on in the Each stokehole is covered by a plate or door 27.

The manner of handling and the operation of this incinerator is as follows: As rapidly as the garbage and other refuse material is collected in the establishment in which the incinerator is installed, it is dumped into the hoppers 22, one hopper being preferably lled at a time, or otherwise as circumstances may require. The material remains in the hoppers and the furnace remains cold until the time designated for the destruction of the material arrives which may be a particular hour or whenever the hoppers are all full. In the meantime any water settling from the mass or masses of refuse passes off to the sewer through the conduits 25 and the mhterial becomes more or less dry. When the destruction is to take place, a hot lire is built in the combust-ion chamber 8, the `heat and products of combustion from this chamber pass through the cremating chamber 11 above and below grate 9 therein, if desired, and through the overhead passages 16 and 18 to the iue. When the grate 9 and the exposed surfaces in the cremating chamber reach an incandescent condition, the operator introduces a hook or rake through the stokeholes 26 and draws a quantity of therefuse material exposed at the outlets 24 of the hoppers, onto the grate 9, spreading it thereon in a comparatively thin layer.. This is rapidly cremated and in a short time may be replaced by another layer drawn from the hopper-s, as before, any remaining ashes meanwhile being worked down through the openings in grate 9. This operation is repeated until the hoppers have been emptied; whereupon, the fire in the combustion chamber 3 which in the meantime has been kept up, is allowed to go out and to remain out for the neXt l2 or 14: hours, or until the hoppers are again filled. During the cremating period, the gases and vapors which are not fully consumed in the cremating chamber, come into contact with the extended heating surfaces in the chambers 16 and 18, and are there finally consumed, so that nothing of an obnoxious nature passes into the atmosphere. By closing the damper 2l., all of the heat from the chamber 3 is directed against the refuse material, a part of it against the top of the layer and a part through the openings in the grate 9, but this also decreases the draft to the lire in chamber 3, and accordingly the `damper 21 may be occasionally opened in order to maintain the lire at its proper degree of incandescence.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

l. An. incinerator comprising a cremating chamber, a refuse storage chamber and a Stoke-hole, the storage chamber and stokehole being located on opposite sides of the cremating chamber, the bottom of the storage chamber being below the floor of the cremating chamber.

2. An incinerator comprising a cremating chamber' and a separate combustion chamber, flues arranged to direct the draft from the combustion chamber through the cremating chamber, a refuse storage chamber formed in the side wall of the ercmating chamber and discharging thereto in a direction transverse to the direction of draft, a Stoke hole arranged in the side wall of the cremating chamber opposite the storage chamber and the bottom of the storage chamber being below that of the cremating chamber.

3. An incinerating apparatus comprising a cremating chamber having a convex grate in the bottom thereof, of a hopper in the side wall thereof, provided with a concave bottom abutting said grate, the conformation of the bottom of said hopper and of said grate preventing the refuse from spreading over the grate, and a stoke hole located opposite the hopper.

4. An incinerating apparatus comprising a cremating chamber having a convex grate in the bottom thereof, a hopper in the side wall thereof provided with a concave bottom abutting said grate, a drain pipe leading from said bottom abutting said grate, the conformation of the bottom of said hopper and said grate preventing the refuse from spreading over the grate.

5. An incinerator comprising a cremating chamber, a refuse storage chamber located to one side of the cremating chamber and Whose bottom is below that of the cremating Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

